Halloween Activities

Here is a copy of the letter that was sent home last week, in case you need it again!

MADISON ELEMENTARY

HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES

OCTOBER 31, 2013

 

The Halloween parade will start at 1:45 PM on Thursday, October 31.  The afternoon kindergarten class will lead the parade and grades 1 through 5 will follow.  Parties will begin immediately following the parade.  (The morning kindergarten parade will be at 10:15 a.m. with the parties following at 10:30 a.m.  If participating in Halloween activities, morning kindergarten students should come to school wearing their costume.)

 

If weather permits, the parade will be outdoors.  Children should be dressed for the possible cold outdoor temperatures.  During the parade, each class will stop to line up along the sidewalks and watch the parade so that the kids have the opportunity to, not only parade, but watch the rest of the school parade as well.

 

If weather is poor, we will parade throughout the school.  The gym and multi-purpose room will be reserved for parents and family members to view the parade.  If inclement weather requires us to parade indoors, the parade will begin with the PM kindergarten class.  Each class will sit in the hallway outside their class and watch the parade.  As the parade passes each class, that class will stand and join the parade.  Parents who wish to view the indoor parade are required to enter Door 3 or 4 and sign in at the table.  Everyone must sign in.  No one will be allowed on school grounds unless he/she has properly signed in.   All parents and family are welcome to watch the parade in the gym, not outside classrooms or in hallways. 

 

Please keep the costumes simple.  With 400 students in school, we ask that children be able to put their costumes on by themselves.

 

All participating students must follow the following costume guidelines:

·         All costumes should be non-violent.  Please eliminate all weapons.  TOY KNIVES, AXES, GUNS, BLOOD ETC. are not allowed.

·         Sharp objects should not be part of the costume.

·         Costumes should not demean or poke fun at any group of people because of their race,

ethnicity or gender. They should be respectful of all people.

·         Students should not wear masks or include hand held props in costumes.

·         Parents that choose to dress in costume may do so without hiding their identity.

 

Students may bring their costume to school in the morning.  They may put them on after the lunch/recess hour.   Madison will keep a regular school schedule during the morning hours.

 

If you do not want your child to participate in the Halloween activities, please notify your child’s teacher and the office. We will have normal school activities throughout the AM and lunch hour.  Students not in attendance in the morning will miss valuable instructional time.

 

We look forward to a safe and fun Halloween!  Thank you for your support in making Halloween festivities safe and fun for all.  As always, if you have questions, please call, email, or stop in to see me.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Tim Callahan, Principal

Madison Elementary         

                                                                                               

What's going on in 4S!

Math

-We are still in the middle of our switch for math. This week we are starting multiplication. Our main learning target/goal is to multiply two digit numbers by two digit numbers by November 15th. So, for example, 46 X 68.

Social Studies

-We are finally done with our dough islands! Last week the children put their island on a map according to latitude and longitude lines. They came up with a capital city name, located highest and lowest levels of elevation, and drew the coordinates on their island. Their islands are complete now with elevation levels and at least five different landforms. The pictures are on the blog as well, so be sure to take a look at their excellent results!

-We are working hard on our Revolutionary War Projects! The children started working on their power point presentations today. Tomorrow we will add pictures from the internet and finish out the power point typing this week. All that is left is finishing the speech and presenting it along with their power point presentation and writing their final paper. This was a huge project and the children have been working extremely hard on it. You should be so proud of the excellent work they are doing!

Science

-We are starting Lesson 3 this week: How Are Plants Classified. The children did a great job on their Lesson 1 and 2 quiz last Friday!

Writing

-The children are publishing their interview papers using the computer lab and the laptops in the classroom!  After interviewing, writing a five paragraph rough draft, editing with three different partners, we are finally ready to print!  The final product will be graded and given to the student the paper is about.  I can’t wait to read their finished, final products.  Upcoming writing will be in social studies for their Revolutionary War Paper.  After that, we work on Persuasive, Narrative and Poetry at the end of the year.

 

Reading

-This is the last week of the reading switch!  The kids have done an excellent job with the “switch!”  It has been so neat to work with children from Mr. Jewell’s class and Mrs. Fraser’s class too!  This switch focused on QAR questions (right there-literal, putting it together-literal, and author and me-inferential questions) and Keeping Track of their Thinking.  For the next few weeks we will focus on reading and comprehending nonfiction text.  Some of the areas of focus are:  summarizing, main idea/details, vocabulary, inferencing, cause and effect, predicting, and breaking apart nonfiction text into text features such as headings, captions and table of contents. We will work on these nonfiction skills throughout the entire year as well.  The start of the next switch date is to be determined still.

-Genre Study Book Report-This month we are reading mystery novels.  My class is putting together a puzzle project.  Because this project is a little more involved, I set the due date for Friday, November 8^th which allows them an extra week to work.

PTA Directory

Oops!  There was a mix-up!

***I put the directories in the children's mailboxes last Friday, not the children.  My apologies for the mix up.***

Please check your PTA School Directory that may have gone home with your child last Friday, October 18^th.  There is a membership card stapled to the front of it stating the name of the person/family it belongs to.  If you have the wrong one, please return the PTA card and the directory with your child ASAP so they can return it to the right person.

My apologies for the mistake.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail me.

Catherine.schroeder@cusd200.org

Kate Schroeder

Cory and Frances’ Blog Post

                     Cory and Frances’ Blog Post      

    In writing we have started editing our interview papers by switching papers with partners and having them edit it.

 For reading we have been doing the switch for a while.

For social studies we have been researching the Revolutionary War, its events, places, things and people. It’s going very well.

In science we are learning about the Kingdoms of Life.

 Math- we have started the switch! We are moving on to lesson 2: factors/multiplication. It is very fun and exciting.

Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything   by Steve Cotler is our new read aloud book.

 Don’t forget the Book Fair is next week: Tuesday the 15^th – Friday 18^th.

Also, Columbus Day is on Monday so there is no school.

Landform pictures

 



 

 

 

Fun Fall Pictures:)

Frances at Sonny Acres!

 

My mom's pumpkin topiary...pretty creative!

 

Jada's great pumpkin-carving skills!  Wow!

 

John's Spider!..."Mrs. Frank"

This spider is in my backyard.  I wanted to send you a picture.  I thought that you might find it cool.  In a couple of weeks she will leave the web and she will lay 300 to 900 eggs and every day she makes a new web.  She is a cross spider and pretty big.  We have named her Mrs. Frank. 

Sara and her family at the Pumpkin Patch!  Happy Family:) 

Mrs. Schroeder's Halloween House...Spooky, well not really!

Aloha this is John and Mark’s Blog the best blog EVER!!

MATH

 

In math we finished unit 1. Also, we took a pretest for unit 2. In my opinion it was VERY hard!

We reviewed ungrouping, subtracting with zeros, rounding, and regrouping.

So were pretty busy in math! But now we are switching! It's nice having other teachers but we all miss Mrs. Schroeder and Mrs. Boyd.

 

 

Mrs. Boyd

She is from Virginia. She used to be a math teacher! But now, she is a terrific class aide to us. She is very smart and pretty! She also does a lot of other things. Mrs. Boyd is the best aid ever!

 

Mrs. Schroeder

 

 

Mrs. Schroeder is  our teacher. She’s from Naperville.  She’s very funny and sarcastic! She’s also very pretty too!! Everybody loves her! Best 4^th grade teacher ever by far!! She is very nice and understanding!

She makes everything fun.

 

Dough Islands/social studies

 

In social studies we are making dough islands .We are painting them in different colors to represent the elevation!! It was very fun!! Now, we are letting them dry. We are working on them in table groups! We are doing Revolutionary War and it is a BIG part of our grade! SCARY !!!